Canteloupe-size Tumor on ovary

My 20 year old daughter was just told she has a canteloupe-size tumor on one of her ovaries. She is going for a CA blood test today which I think will determine how quickly they do the surgery - this week or next week. Does anyone know what the percentage rate is that these kinds of tumors are malignant? Is the fact that it is such a large tumor indicative of anything specific (i.e. is this good, really bad)?

Also, the doctor specifically mentioned tumor -- not cyst. Are these basically the same thing? And any advice as to what to expect following surgery? I believe she was told it would take 3 weeks before she could go back to school.

i'm not sure re: the distinction between cyst & tumor. It may have something to do with what material is it composed of. From what I was told, liquid has a better chance of being benign than solid masses. and while larger masses are more suspicious, its not a guarantee that its cancerous. my aunt had a similiarly sized tumor that was benign.

just as a side note, if your daughter does end up needing a laparatomy, she may want more than 3 weeks after the surgery to recover. i'm older than she is (i'm 35) but i was still in a fair amt of pain 3 weeks out. i ended up having an infection in the incision which definitely extended my healing time - maybe for others, 3 weeks was sufficient?

i wish you & your daughter the best. please let us know how things go.

I too had a ovarian cyst removed on 11/2/07, that was also the size of a melon. My surgeon said it was a Dermoid which is a type of tumour. Only 2% of them are found to be malignant. I have been advised to take 6 weeks off work for recovery time. I had a Laporoscopy then a Laporotomy, as initially, they didnt know what was wrong with me. Please see my earlier comments.

I agree with the previous poster. I assume she'll have a laparotomy due the size of her tumor and usually it's a full six weeks for recovery, but I know some recover much quicker. I too took longer due to an infection like the previous poster, but when I had my hysterectomy via laparotomy, I could have returned to work at 3 weeks. It will depend on her and what's actually done at time of surgery.

Now, regarding the size, larger doesn't necessarily mean malignant, but it needs to come out immediately. The only way to determine what it is, is biopsy/pathology.

I wish you both the best of luck, speedy recovery and a positive outcome.

The terms tumor, mass and cyst are used interchangably....I noticed that my OB/GYN called mine cysts, the radiologist called them masses and the GYN/ONC called them tumors.

Most doctors will remove cysts, masses, tumors whatever you want to call them when they are over 6cm at that point they usually will not resolve on their own and could begin to cause other problems. The size of this thing does not determine if it is cancerous it or not.

As for the CA125, it is totally unreliable as a tool to diagnosis OvCa especially in pre-menopausal women. There are so many false positives. The test is better used as a tumor marker for someone that has already been diagnosised and not everyone is CA125 sensitive.

Keep in mind, that most, the percentage is over 90 percent, of these things are benign. They will not know for certain until they perform biopsies on this "thing".

Best of luck to you and your daughter, please let us know how everything works out.

My daughter's CA125 results just came back and the doctor told her that 2 of the 3 markers indicated her tumor was benign. The third marker was elevated to CA125 levels. I'm not sure what that means and I haven't spoken to the doctor myself. The doctor has told my daughter to not do any research on the internet and I know that is because there are so many things that can be misleading. She also told my daughter that it doesn't mean she has cancer just because the third marker shows elevated levels, as having any kind of an inflamation can raise the level.

My gyn oncologist explained to me that elevated CA-125 levels in the blood are a very unreliable tool for determining cancer, but that it was also a test that they don't like to ignore. The bottom line, he said, was that in most cases where an ultra sound shows a solid mass of any kind, even when there are obvious cysts present as well, that they cannot tell for 100% sure is the mass is cancerous or not until they take an actual look at it.

It's a very scary time for you and your daughter, I am sure. I just had surgery last week for a fairly large complex tumor which fortunately was benign and though my doctor told me prior to the surgery that he was all but certain it would be nothing more than endometriosis (which it was) that little shadow of a doubt was extremely scary for me.

Try hard not to focus on the C word, instead make preparartions for the surgery and recovery - buy plenty of books to read and DVDs to watch! I'm sure your daughter will come through the surgery with flying colors. At age 39, one week post-op, I am feeling quite well with only some tenderness and swelling, and some minor mood swings. I should be back to work within 3 weeks of my surgery date.

My daughter was 20 when she was diagnosed with ovarian cancer. Her tumor was a germ cell tumor and weighed 15 pounds. She had surgery (cut from her belly button down to her pelvic bone to remove the tumor. Her chemotherapy was aggressive so she had to be admitted into the hospital for a week at a time because they admisistered her chemo for 5 days straight every 3 weeks for 3 weekly treatments, and every monday she had to have adriamyacin (I think it was 6 total) which was an outpatient visit. It was a nightmare for her although the hospital staff made her very comfortable and she really didn't complain, it was just very hard for us to watch.

I just want to give you the encouragement to know that my daughter is now 25 year olds. This June 2007, will be her 5 years in remission (without recurrance.) She is graduating college this May 2007 and has a more relaxed outlook on life.

I'm praying that your daughters tumor is benign but just in case I wanted you to know that things will still be ok....

Thank you all for your encouragement and wisdom. Yes, it is a very scary time but we are not jumping to any conclusions - just doing what we need to do and, while my daughter's doctor said NOT to research on the internet, I personally find it is a way to become informed really quickly and to know what our options are, what expectations should we have, etc. I find sometimes doctors like to keep you 'in the dark' as they are afraid you will misunderstand information, get depressed, freak out, whatever. I do understand that, but some of us are able to handle and process information better than that! Thanks again - God bless you all! I'll keep you posted on the outcome.

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